Plenty of new features are coming with Switch 2, but Nintendo's Virtual Game Cards will be key to the system's success.

With Switch, Nintendo is currently offering the platform friendliest to physical game collectors, but the existence of game-key cards for Switch 2 has the holdouts from the supposedly inevitable ...

Nintendo Game-Key cards are crucial. Switch 2's 64GB cartridge may not suffice ... Others have pointed out simple complaints, like having to wait for a game to download instead of just being ...

Nintendo has confirmed that those sleek new Switch 2 game ... cartridges were simple key containers. Let's not forget that Nintendo has bent the definition of what a game card offers before ...

Update [Thu 24th Apr 2025, 10am]: Pre-orders for Switch 2 games are starting to go live in the US and, in the case of Sega titles at least, it looks like they too will be game-key cards in the region.

Many third-party publishers are taking advantage of Nintendo's game-key card option for their Switch 2 titles, a fact that's causing no shortage of consternation to physical game collectors.

UPDATE: Publisher Spike Chunsoft has contacted IGN to clarify that the physical version of No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES for Nintendo Switch 2 is in fact a Game-Key Card ...

According to the description, game-key cards will unlock a download of the game when you insert the cart (which looks like a standard Switch 2 cartridge) and connect to the internet. However ...

Last month, Nintendo and its third-party partners revealed that many of the "physical" games on the Switch 2 would be made available only as "Digital Key Cards." Unlike traditional physical Switch ...

And it looks like a whole lot of physical third-party Switch 2 game releases in the US will also be Game-Key cards, based on the box art accompanying the listings. These have been controversial ...

With the Switch 2 generation, Nintendo will introduce Game-Key cards, which don't contain the game's data and instead trigger a downloadable version for you to play. Since the card will act as an ...

But it won’t be great if Game-Key Cards won’t actually do away with Switch 2 physical releases that are only download codes in boxes. Ultimately, the marketplace will make their own ...